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Airbrush makes great ink mixing tool (vs. cotton swab)

Airbrush makes great ink mixing tool (vs. cotton swab)

2005-06-19 by Nick H. Nugent

Hello folks,

This posting is for those that design inksets such as Paul Roark, or
like me that want to come up with a particular shade of sepia.

My airbrush has been sitting around doing nothing for a while due
recent development in GLOP for glossy papers and roller applications
for matte media. I found a use for it last night when I was rolling my
own sepia shade and after getting frustrated a bit with the cotton
swab.

The airbrush spits out ink much like an inkjet and you spray it
straight from the mixing bottle. Using an Iwata Eclipse BCS with
adjustable spray you can spray it light, dark and anywhere in between
to simulate ink intensity with ease. Test spray on your target piece
of paper for accuracy.

I got now a sepia tone that I really like but it's still a tad too
reddish magenta. Maybe a few more drops of cyan will do. This was the
result of my spray test on a paper different than my target paper. And
the new 1160 spongeless cart just makes it so easy to reload ink.

I'm using this sepia not as a toner, but as a gray in a two-ink QTR or
IJC/OPM profile. Somehow I cannot get the tone I really like when I
use it as a toner in the profile.

In this 1160 setup I have MK in the black cart, PK in the cyan
position, the newly concocted sepia in the yellow, and perhaps I can
come up with another sepia in the magenta position for a paper that
doesn't work well with this sepia.

Anyway, the airbrush makes an excellent aid in ink mixing. I hope some
may find this information useful.

--nick

RE: [Digital BW] Airbrush makes great ink mixing tool (vs. cotton swab)

2005-06-26 by Paul Roark

Nick,

The air brush does sound like a useful accessory for mixing.  I use a
wire-wound ("Mayer") rod for more accuracy than a swab, but it tends to tell
me mostly about the dark end of the scale.

As to your adding cyan to your sepia mix to make it less red, try some
yellow instead.  The old sepia toner mix I used was 84% light carbon gray
(e.g., UT2 LM or UT7 LC) 8% Y and 8% M.  To get different shades of sepia,
the Y to M ratio is what made the most difference.  If the sepia was the
right hue, but the gamut was too low, then I'd change the ratio of the color
pigs to the light carbon.  

I now use R800 clone red instead of magenta, but it still takes yellow to
get the hue to where I want it.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com 
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> -----Original Message-----
> From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Nick H.
> Nugent
> Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2005 1:13 PM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Digital BW] Airbrush makes great ink mixing tool (vs. cotton
> swab)
> 
> Hello folks,
> 
> This posting is for those that design inksets such as Paul Roark, or
> like me that want to come up with a particular shade of sepia.
> 
> My airbrush has been sitting around doing nothing for a while due
> recent development in GLOP for glossy papers and roller applications
> for matte media. I found a use for it last night when I was rolling my
> own sepia shade and after getting frustrated a bit with the cotton
> swab.
> 
> The airbrush spits out ink much like an inkjet and you spray it
> straight from the mixing bottle. Using an Iwata Eclipse BCS with
> adjustable spray you can spray it light, dark and anywhere in between
> to simulate ink intensity with ease. Test spray on your target piece
> of paper for accuracy.
> 
> I got now a sepia tone that I really like but it's still a tad too
> reddish magenta. Maybe a few more drops of cyan will do. This was the
> result of my spray test on a paper different than my target paper. And
> the new 1160 spongeless cart just makes it so easy to reload ink.
> 
> I'm using this sepia not as a toner, but as a gray in a two-ink QTR or
> IJC/OPM profile. Somehow I cannot get the tone I really like when I
> use it as a toner in the profile.
> 
> In this 1160 setup I have MK in the black cart, PK in the cyan
> position, the newly concocted sepia in the yellow, and perhaps I can
> come up with another sepia in the magenta position for a paper that
> doesn't work well with this sepia.
> 
> Anyway, the airbrush makes an excellent aid in ink mixing. I hope some
> may find this information useful.
> 
> --nick
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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Re: [Digital BW] Airbrush makes great ink mixing tool (vs. cotton swab)

2005-06-27 by Nick H. Nugent

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the tip on sepia mixing. Having used both
your curves and QTR toning profile it appears your
curves gives more intense sepia than using it as a
toner in QTR. To boost the toner ink limit any higher
you end up with overloading of sepia ink on the dark
end no matter how much you tweak the toner curve
shadow setting.

It appears I get the best QTR sepia profile to my
taste by using it as a gray ink, not as a toner. I got
the exact sepia I want without the ability to set
the toner level except perhaps by reducing ink limit.
But somehow this is how I like it.

I will definitely use your suggestion in my next
experiment. Thanks again Paul for your research in
this area. I study a lot from your inksets and try to
adapt them to my 1160.

--nick

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Roark"
<paul.roark@v...> wrote:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> As to your adding cyan to your sepia mix to make it
> less red, try some yellow instead.  The old sepia
> toner mix I used was 84% light carbon gray (e.g.,
> UT2 LM or UT7 LC) 8% Y and 8% M.  To get different
> shades of sepia, the Y to M ratio is what made the
> most difference.  If the sepia was the right hue,
> but the gamut was too low, then I'd change the ratio
> of the color pigs to the light carbon.
> 
> I now use R800 clone red instead of magenta, but it
> still takes yellow to get the hue to where I want
> it.
> 
> Paul www.PaulRoark.com

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